


kutitap (flicker)

by sisinala



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, One Shot Collection, mermaid!rey, pirate!Ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:22:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23963041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisinala/pseuds/sisinala
Summary: It's always been them.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Kylo Ren
Comments: 8
Kudos: 50





	kutitap (flicker)

**Author's Note:**

> *whispers* so i posted these fics as other ships bec being reylo was scary but now here we are
> 
> also I swear I'm working on my fics its just that I'm working on all of them at the same time bec that's how I roll

Rey felt like she could reach out and touch the sun.

She closed her eyes, felt the wind like it was the ocean, but with gentler waves. She’d missed the warmth of the surface, the smell of the ocean instead of its taste. The clouds, the sky, the birds. Nothing compared to the sound of the wind, not drumming in her ears as the water did. She breathed it all in.

She flicked her tail and jumped from the water, luxuriating in the short seconds that she was free. What was it like to be free of the weight? She fell back and the water took her once more.

She knows the water is freedom, that it was sanctuary. But ever since everybody else disappeared and the last few years passed by that she hasn’t seen any of her kind, the water felt like prison. All it contained were memories and the tears of her brothers and sisters.

She felt a shift in the waves, the slight push of the ocean that told her that something was coming. She looked up and the sun was gone under a blanket of clouds. This was how fast the weather changed in these parts, it was why she had been forbidden to even swim close to here as a child.

But Rey was not a child any longer, and everyone else is dead.

The sailors came closer. She dived.

Rey had been cursed the moment she was born. The medicine woman was shocked, prayed the moment she was handed over to someone else. _She will doom us,_ they said. _Ivory scales, the sun kissing the water. She will be our death._ And then she was alone. And they were right, maybe. It’d been so long that Rey has started to forget.

She felt a spear go through the water just next to her. It nicked the scales on her hip, and she cried out as she saw the blood. She had to escape. Sharks may not particularly like humans, but they do mermaids.

It wasn’t over. She felt the weight of ropes cover her, and it dragged her down before it pulled her up. It was rough and scratched, dislodged the tiniest scaled on her arms and neck. She tried swimming down, but it was futile. Ivory scales were very visible on the water indeed. It had been years since she was last captured.

She had just lost his weapons as she was swimming away from barracudas. Now she was helpless.

_Our dear diwata Magwayen, you have blessed and cursed me with your touch. Help me, please._

She wakes up on another deck, another set of faces that will haunt her nightmares. They look upon her inside the glass tub they placed in the center so that her tail would not disappear without the water. Mermaids on land could very well pass off as human. But there are things that are not so skin deep, such as mermaid tears. They were one of the most sought out things on land, with a single drop being able to heal irreversible illnesses and wounds. And thus, the suffering of Rey’s people.

“Do you want anything to eat?” The sound was too soft on her ears. It was tentative, careful. While her claws and fangs may not have worked on the ropes, they could tear a hole in any man that tries to touch her.

There was this little mermaid trick that humans knew nothing about. They could see emotions more clearly. Under the ocean, it was useful for survival, knowing things with just a look. Humans are even easier to read. They do not know how much they show in their faces. The man was looking at her, and there was truth in his eyes, a little apprehensiveness, a little fear. But in him, Rey saw kindness. Guilt, too. But the kindness overshadowed everything else. So she just stares at him, wide-eyed and awed.

_You are human, how are you so kind?_

“Um, I’m sorry for assuming but I got this for you. My name’s Ben” And then the man shyly looks down, offering the plate of roasted fish as far as he could extend his hand just in case she got a little feisty. The glass tub only had a small opening where they could throw raw fish in. It was restrictive, and for someone who had the whole ocean as their home, Rey was boxed in. She looked away.

“You should have let me go, instead” Rey looked up at him, but in Ben she saw no rage. Only sadness.

“I’m sorry, I can’t”

“Then you are a kind coward. You may now leave me to my bonds, human”

Rey should have felt anger. She did the first time she got captured. But now she felt only felt despair and guilt. She knew that all these people will die soon.

It was in their shadows, in their breaths. Magwayen held her children dear, and now they would pay. Only she who has cursed her should make her suffer. She told Rey herself.

“Take a boat”, she said before she could stop herself.

“What?” Ben turned back around. The others were looking at them now.

“This ship will sink before midnight. Take a boat and leave”

“That would be—“

“It is your choice, human”, and because people were staring, “Leave me!”

It was effective. In the others' eyes, they only saw the poor fool trying to win over a mermaid with sweet words and failing. Maybe they have not seen a mermaid before, what with how few they are that were left. Sometimes she even feels like she was the only one. Maybe they don’t even remember what white scales mean. Their lives are so short that they easily forget. 

Rey closed her eyes, heard the thunder and the rain. It was always the same... But in time she had peace with it. She _was_ a curse. She let the movements of the ship lull her to sleep. That night she dreamt of hazel brown eyes and the ship splitting in two.

She did not wake up at the bottom of the ocean like she did all those times before. Instead, she was at some cave, dry as a bone, and her legs visible under her dry scales. She screamed, and she hit her back on the rough stone wall. She was at her most vulnerable. She had to get back to the water.

“Hey, hey calm down” Ben looked exactly what he would have if he got tossed by a storm. His long hair had been tangled with seaweed and pieces of driftwood, his clothes torn in places.

“Why am I here?”

“You saved my life”

“What?”

“Don’t you remember?” Vague pictures, of howling winds and the masts shaking. The sail had ripped and it almost swayed him overboard when the wind tried to take him with it. Rey had jumped without knowing, moving without thought as she saw the _acceptance_ in his eyes as the ocean threatened to swallow him whole. _Magwayen you will not take him._ And now here they are.

“I don’t remember”

“That’s alright, I’m a bit shaken up too”

“Everybody else is dead”

“Yes. I should be, too. But you saved me.” He turned away, went back to a roaring fire he must have built when Rey was out. He was resourceful, and now they have fish for dinner.

“You’re probably tired of me offering, but you have to eat.” Rey was too far away from the fire, and she did not trust herself to be stable enough to walk on legs. So she pretended that she was not hungry.

“What’s your name?” A mermaid’s name was her treasure. It was not given to anyone but her family. But she had none, and her name was known only to her. “What do I call you?”

“...Rey. Do not ask any more from me. Once I am strong I will get you a boat so you can leave”

“How will you be strong if you don’t eat?” Rey stayed quiet, looked at the stars from the mouth of the cave as the waves called to her. She really should leave this human alone. But she was so very lonely. She had been listening to her own voice for so long that she was desperate for any conversation even a human may offer. And Ben was so very kind.

“I can’t stand,” she said as she looked away, blood rushing to her cheeks. The human looked big enough to carry her, and if he was out at sea for as long as he looked like, he surely could. Hesitantly, trying to catch her eyes as she kept her gaze away, he approached. Held out his arms. She woke up with no bonds, no ropes. For a man as resourceful as Ben, he could have fashioned something to restrain her. But he didn’t. 

“Is it alright if I carry you?” She had never felt naked before. She blushed, and looked down upon herself and hugged herself tighter. The human must have noticed because he shook off his shirt and placed it over her shoulder. It smelled like seawater and brine but also of human. Some hint of jasmine, too. And deliciously roasted fish. Rey’s stomach growled.

“See, you _are_ hungry” And then she felt arms around him, lifting her up. Ben had a sailor’s body, and Rey blushed at herself. She remembers the stories once told of jolly sailors in giggles and whispers. _They’re not just good for eating, you know!_

Rey had never acquired a taste for human and other desires, but the curve of Ben's neck in the firelight and the smell of his skin stirred something forbidden in her. And then she remembers. _No. I will not let you curse him through me, dear diwata. We will not be your story to tell._

She knew that Magwayen must have been watching very closely. Her, so lonely for so long, given a kind companion to share the ocean with. And so she avoided Ben’s eyes for however long she could as she sat down and nibbled on the fish.

“Are you a hunter?” Rey asked, because she knew that the fates loved their irony. 

“No. A pirate.” Oh, much worse. “The fates did me something good when they sunk that ship. I was a slave. You have freed me”

“It was Magwayen”

“Who?”

“Our goddess. Of the ocean and death. She saved you so you can torment me”

“Torment—“

“I have been alone for so long, with you hunting my kind and being very good at it. It’s been years since I last saw any of them.”

“You’re the first one we’ve ever seen. You’ve been a legend for decades”

“Time passes differently for us. I only remain because I am cursed.” She looked at him. “And you are unfortunate.”

“So what happened with the ship—“

“—has happened many times before. Every time I get captured, everyone on board is doomed to die”

“Rey— I— Well—Thank you. Whatever brought you to help me has saved my life. I’ve been taken from my family and I don’t know if I have anything to go back to, but you saved me and now I might have a chance to see them again. So, thank you”

“I saved you because you were kind. This is rare among your people” And then Rey dropped her head, her eyes stuck to the ground as she stared at her hands.

“Me, kind? No, Rey.” He laughed bitterly. “You’ve simply met me at the wrong time.” He sighed. Rey contemplated her next words. She made circles on the sand with her finger.

“Or maybe the right time. We can see through your hearts you know”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t lie to a mermaid. Your faces are too easy to tell”

“Faces can lie”

“Yes, but your hearts cannot” And then Ben rose up from his seat to loom over her. He placed his hands on her sides as he got too close that Rey had to press herself to the cave walls to escape his heat. Ben’s eyes burned through her.

“You are too innocent” Ben breathed, and she felt it spread warmth all over her body. Rey started to shake.

“Are you cold?” Was he really asking that of a deep-sea creature? Did he not know how cold it can get at the bottom of the waves?

“N-no”, but she was shivering. The land was warming her cold blood.

“I’m sorry I can’t offer you anything else. Do you want to get closer to the fire?” Rey didn’t know what to do, so she nodded instead. Ben carried her closer and sat her on the sand as close as possible to the flickering flames. Behind her, Ben sat, asked with his eyes and after she nodded, rubbed warmth back to her shoulders. 

They spent the next few days coaxing strength to Rey’s legs. His hands on her skin, his eyes always somewhere else. After the first few times, Rey was desperately hoping for any nervous glance. He’d blushed every time. 

She returned to the water occasionally to return some strength to herself, and also to find a boat. Ben, on the other hand was content on the rocks. He left their cave to fish during low tide and to hunt in the forests nearby. Rey did not know the island where they were—the storm had tossed them too far away, but she was slowly finding her way back. 

Something in her clenched that she tried to tamper down. Ben was easy to talk to, even if they began with just the weather and ships as the only subjects of their conversations. But Rey was also starting to slip things about her only the waves know, of her loneliness and her curse. In return, Ben showed her his scars, and the cruelty mankind inflicts upon itself.

_“The fates have not been good to you,”_ she said, fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt as she sat on his lap. It was getting colder, and he was warmer than the fire. 

_“As they were to you.”_ His arms had wrapped around her then, holding her close. _“You have been their first kindness in a long time.”_

Rey suspected that maybe she can’t find her way back is because she doesn’t want to. She tells Ben because that’s what’s fair.

“I don’t blame you. I don't want to leave you here either” He says, his mouth full of coconut he climbed for just a few hours ago.

“It’s not right. I need to return you” He laughed, and then looked at her with serious eyes.

“You sound like you stole me away”

“Didn’t I?”

“I woke up a few days before you, Rey. I could have escaped if I wanted to”

“What?”

“I could have built a raft, looked up at the sky. I know the way back.” She had not known anyone long enough to teach her. What she knew, she taught herself. 

“You can read the stars?” She said, forgetting whatever else she had been talking about.

“Do you want me to teach you?”

The niggling feeling of guilt did not leave her. Even though a few days ago she admitted to himself what she truly felt. _If you love him truly you will let him go._ And so she swam as far as she could and dragged back the best boat she could find. Ben had taught her the stars, the trees, he even taught her to walk on land. In exchange, Rey taught him how to better read the weather, of how to tell if there was lightning in the wind, and what sea plants could heal.

Rey knew she had to let go.

It broke her heart when Ben agreed. But she had been alone before. 

And so here they were, close enough to see the shore of Ben’s hometown. She could smell the smoke from the houses, the various things that cooked in the flames, hear the children playing and the farmers tilling the ground.

“Here we are” Rey felt acid in the pit of her stomach, and she clutched the side of the boat tighter so he wouldn’t see her shaking hands. 

“Yes”

“I’m going to miss you”, she said, because she had the rest of her life to regret it if she did not say it now. Rey looked at his eyes, trying to remember his face, tears stinging on her eyes. Ben leaned towards her, cupped her cheeks, and wiped away one of her tears. Ben’s eyes promised something else. Something warm and safe that Rey knew had never known but knew he could give. Ben was offering her a future.

“Come home with me,” Ben said softly. 

Rey takes his hand.


End file.
